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Friday, March 9, 2012

Going with the theme of super backlogged posts, I`ll write about my impressions about Canadian drugstores when I visited Canada for the second time this past winter break (I realize it`s March now <-fail).

During the three weeks I stayed there, I visited approximately 20 drugstores probably a total of 40 times, so yeh, you could say I have some experience there. ;) I'm surprised my bf wanted to stay my bf after he accompanied me on all these trips. He did say it was the most times he's ever visited the drugstore in his life, lol.

The feature that really stood to me from regular American drugstore beauty aisles were the department store-like displays of higher-end makeup. There's usually a salesperson who works specifically in the beauty section, which is a little intimidating when you just want to browse in your sweats!

Jean Coutu Displays

Here are some of Jean Coutu's displays. Jean Coutu is a regional pharmacy chain in Quebec. Based on the layout and feel of the place, the American counterpart to Jean Coutu would be Rite Aid, which makes sense because Jean Coutu owns shares in Rite Aid.

Jean Coutu is probably my favorite drugstore there, because the prices are the lowest that I've ever seen (besides Walmart of course). Other pharmacies like Shoppers (Pharmaprix in Quebec) and Rexall have crazy markups. And Jean Coutu has great sales.

Look at all them sale tags *drools* Marcelle (seen below) is a homegrown Canadian beauty brand that gets a lotta love from beauty bloggers, especially for their lipstick line and their exciting new BB cream release.

Holiday make gift set complete with sequined bag on clearance!

Felt really bad that I didn't wait for a sale to buy these awesome lippies. They usually retail $11.95, score!

A LE Marcelle collection (probably gone by the time I'm writing this :/ ) They have testers. JEALOUS

Close-up

EcoTools Retractable Foundation Brush, have yet to see this in-person in the States

Jean Coutu had a house brand called Personnelle. Check out the shimmer atomizers in the back!

A close-up, so gorgeous!

A cool feature of Canadian drugstores is that some American brands like Revlon and Almay seem to release their new collections much earlier in Canada, by several weeks or months. It's like companies use Canada as their own test market!

I spotted this display a few weeks before it showed up in the US

Another feature I love about Canadian drugstores is their abundance of testers. Regular brands like Revlon and L'oreal actually have testers for their foundation and eye shadows, which is awesome, so you don't have to guess when you pick out foundations. US drugstores, are you paying attention?!

Pharmacies like Rexall and Shoppers have rows upon rows of high end skincare complete with testers. I notice they import a lot of French beauty brands. Once I went into a Shoppers and slathered dozens of expensive creams all over my face, because I forgot to moisturize. Free stuff is the best, I have no shame. :D

Hyaluronic acid serum display at Rexall, you best believe I took advantage of that tester!

Outside of drugstores, I was really interested in the Joe Fresh brand, which is a brand sold exclusively at Loblaws and Maxi grocery stores. Their new spring collection looks so amazing that I must find a way to get my hands on the orange lippies!

These grocery stores are huge, it's more like a Kmart with a bigger food section!

Yes, there's an extensive clothing section in a grocery store :O

Their large makeup aisle

Some snaps of Joe Fresh cosmetics. I've read good things on their lipstick, blush, and nail polish.

Joe Fresh display

More displays, check out the customizable palettes and nail polish!

Cream blushes

Powder blushes

Cream highlighters

LE cream highlighter palette

A closer look. Yay, another tester!

I realize the prices are surprisingly expensive for a house brand. One unfortunate thing about Canadian drugstores is that the prices are noticeably higher for both their domestic and international beauty brands. I guess the prices would be ok if the US dollar wasn't so weak. But things being the way they are, Canadian hauls are a wee bit painful, not that it stopped me from indulging of course!

You can even get your dose of Asian beauty brands in Canada. There's a Asian grocery chain called T&T Supermarket with locations in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario. It's like 99 Ranch Market on crack with an extensive bakery and deli section, which is an absolute necessity because Asian food in Ottawa is positively grim.

Burr, I forgot how cold it was!

This was the best Chinese restaurant I could find in the Ottawa area :/

Rundown: I was excited to try Kings & Queens since I found out they were the sister company of Korres. The price point is sweeter than Korres. $15 for 200mL ( I paid $4.99 at TJ Maxx) verses Korres' $29 for 235mL. I also prefer Kings & Queens' formula. It's thicker and hydrating, Korres' was not moisturizing enough for me. I'm not a fan of lemon scents in general, but they also offer it in mango and honey scents, yum. I'd love to repurchase, but it's hard to find it anywhere. The brand used to be sold at Target and Nordstrom, but have since stopped being carried. I saw it last year at the Duane Reade drugstores in New York. Give it a try if you come across it, especially if you can get it on clearance like I did. :)

Rundown: This was my gentler scrub option when I weaned myself off from St. Ives Apricot scrub. I am a fan of Neutrogena skincare and this is a solid but not life-changing pick. It's gentle but effective enough to buff off the rough dead skin on my nose. Smells like orange tics tacs if you're into that. It's available at most drugstores have costs $6-$7.

Rundown: Ordered it from Sasa after Kathi's comparison of foam cleansers and it came out on top. Indeed, it's as gentle and non-drying and has a delightful tea-like scent as Kathi described. But beyond that, it's not a must-have. Certainly not worth tracking down in the US. I paid around $6 for 180g.

Rundown: Again, like but not love. Non-irritating and moisturizing but didn't do much to reduce the fine lines in my undereyes. Was sold exclusively at Costco in a night cream/eye cream combo. Sold in .5oz pots, wish it came in tube form. It's discontinued now and has been replaced by Borghese's intensive eye serum which is more silicone-y and comes in an airless pump (yay, sanitary factor).

Rundown: Bought it because of Muse's positive review. I hated it and couldn't figure out why. It was not hydrating enough and pilled when I applied too much. It wasn't until I look at the ingredients and realized why it felt drying (alcohol) and pilled (silicone OD). Warning, ladies. Cute packaging may be deceiving! I bought it on Sasa for around $8 for 25g, which is pricey for so little amount of basic moisturizer. I've seen it for $12-$13 at Marina Foods as well. There is better products to be found though.

Rundown: Picked it up January of last year during The Body Shop's annual winter clearance sales for $3. The scent really appealed to me. The salesperson described it perfectly as Jolly Ranchers. Unfortunately, the formula was way too light to properly moisturize my skin, to the extent my legs got cracked and scaly. No bueno. Give it a try if you don't need heavy hydration like I do. It seems to be discontinued in the US but can be found on the UK and Australian Body Shop sites.

Clearly, the mini-reviews are a little useless since most of the products are either discontinued or hard to find. But that's my fault for waiting a year to write about them. I'm glad to finally toss these into the recycling bin after holding onto them for so long. Ah, hoarding trash. Beauty blogging makes you do some crazy things. ;)

Sunday, January 15, 2012

After I got hooked on Nivea Creme, I checked out what kind of Nivea Canada had to offer. It seems like Canada imports much more Nivea products. I saw skincare ranges that hadn't graced the US market. But of course, I was only interested in the Creme. Canada has the same blue plastic tubs of Nivea Creme made in Mexico, so I assumed they contained the same formula. But hey! What's this?

The US Nivea Creme contains petrolatum, which the Canadian one does not. Here's a comparison between Canadian Nivea and German Nivea.

I drew arrows between ingredients that were the same or equivalent. Darn it, Spellcheck! That's how it's supposed to be spelled.

The Canadian formula looks awfully similar to the German one, eh? Although the Canadian formula is missing limonene, geraniol, hydroxycitronellol, linalool, citronellol, benzyl benzoate, cinnamyl alcohol, these are just fragrance ingredients and can be recategorized under parfum, as Rae explains, which make sense.

The Canadian Nivea appears have the German formula with preservatives. After reading May's post, I learned this formula is most similar to the German version and the same as the Thai version.

I thought that was the end of my exciting revelation, but there's more!

I picked up a tube of Nivea instead of a tub. And even those ingredients differed! Check it out.

Again, arrows between the same or equivalent ingredients

It contains the tub ingredients sans preservatives, which I suspect is due to the Creme not being as exposed to airborne bacteria in a tube vs. a tub.

For some reason, there is more Magnesium Sulfate in Candian Nivea. This might be a labelling mistake. However, I doubt it really affects the formula, as I suspect Magnesium Sulfate is used to give Nivea a creamy white appearance. Googling it, I found:

"Magnesium Sulfate is a non-reactive, solid ingredient that is used to dilute other solids, or to increase the volume of a product." -cosmeticsinfo.org

Overall, the Canadian tube formula is very similar to the German one. All this time, I never suspected our neighbors to the north would be so lucky as to get the German formula. This means you can purchase "German" Nivea in Canada. Lol, I searched frantically for it in the States, when it is widely available across the border. If you find yourself in The Great White North, grab yourself a tube!

I was in Montreal this weekend visiting family. There's been a snow storm, so I am really missing Cali weather. I'm returning tomorrow, time goes by so fast. Hope y'all are having a lovely new year!

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